The Word Prostitution

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437 Words

What kind of visualization do you capture when you hear the word prostitution? This word stirs up many negative ideas and for most people a prostitute is portrayed as a sleazy, poor woman who engages in this horrific sexual activity as an easy way to make money to feed her drug addiction. The average person is unaware of the true "world of prostitution.” Prostitution is a very destructive activity for society as a whole and for the individual involved in this "profession.” Legalization would create more violence, rapes, drug use, and promote the degradation of women. .

Advocates of the legalization of prostitution believe it will help regulate it, but in reality it will only cause more violence and drugs. In Canada where prostitution is legal, statistically violence is still a major problem. A study was conducted in 1993 by (Currie et. al., 1995); they surveyed 185 prostitutes in the downtown Vancouver area to study street- prostitution violence and drug and alcohol abuse. An alarming 77% said they had experienced violence within the last six months. About seven accounts of violence occurred per person. The top three types of violence were sexual assault, beaten by a boyfriend, and beaten by a customer. .

Of the 66 respondents 94 percent had used drugs or alcohol with in the past six months. The study showed that 78 percent had used alcohol, 75 percent heroin, and 68 percent cocaine. Of the 66 respondents, 96 percent of them said that their drug use increased while they were working and of those 80 percent they said they used more drugs in order to work. The 20 percent said they "worked” in order to supply their drug and/ or alcohol habit. .

Prostitution is a tawdry profession. Women use their body for money instead of their minds for an honorable career. It is demeaning because it promotes negative values. Prostitution also leads to demoralization of women because they are sexually and physically exploited.